[Anonymous]

Lucky for me, my Prometric center was open today after being closed for 3 days due to the hurricane. At first, I was hoping they’d be open on my test day. While my wish came true, I now wish they were closed. This test was a nightmare. I’ve gone over EVERYTHING in the Wiley book and everything Phil Yaeger highlighted. About 70% of the material I painstakingly studied were not on the freakin’ test!! I had to stop for a moment to wonder if I was even taking the right exam. About half of my multiple choice questions came out of left field. However, my Simulations weren’t so bad, which is something not many people here said. It was the mutiple choice that I found difficult. And I don’t even know if the testlets got harder. All 3 Multiple Choice testlets were extremely hard, IMHO. I’m so screwed. Here I was studying for 300 hours and I’m probably going to end up with a nice big fat 50!!! I’m so depressed. I don’t understand why the CPA exam is like this. It’s supposed to be on material that’s covered in the Wiley book. But it looks like they are testing on material that Wiley and Yaeger didn’t even cover.

In order to pass this, I’d either have to be one heck of a lucky guy or there’s going to be a nice big curve. But I seriously doubt this will happen. So, I’m expecting to have to retake REG. I’m at a loss for words right now. I don’t even know if any additional studying would’ve helped. I’m so annoyed. This is ridiculous!!

Sorry, I just had to vent.

[mvonstei]

CPAMan, I would love to help you. I have Becker Notecards, and I would be honored to send them your way.

Disclosure: Make sure to just toss the cards that are outdated (I,e. Standard Deduction 2009 vs 2011)

[Anonymous]

@mvonstei- That's very kind of you. Wish this site had a PM feature so I can give you the info you need to send them.

[mvonstei]

[Anonymous]

Thanks! Got it. Sent you an email. 🙂

[Peanut]

@eboneeCPA, I can totally relate.. I've received a 59 in REG as well, and it really is the worst feeling ever when you refresh the screen and see a score starting with a “5”.. I'm so sorry. Are you going to take a different approach this time around??

@CPAman I was always on your side when you were convinced that you failed. My first two attempts at REG I knew I failed, same experience as you, the first testlet destroyed me. I knew I had failed FAR, and sure enough I did. Honestly, this time around with REG I really did think that I passed, I just never told a single soul and didn't try to say it much in my head because I thought I would jinx it!! Sure enough I did pass. Maybe some people really do think they will fail and end up passing, but for me, I know when “I know” my material and when I don't..

AUD 81 (X4) Previous scores 59, 72, 72
REG 80 (X3) Previous scores 59, 60
FAR 75 (X2) Previous score 67
BEC 79 (X2) Previous score 58

[Minimorty]

@Peanut – Where are those scores you promised? 😛

[Anonymous]

@Peanut- What did you do to prepare for REG this time around? Your score increase is impressive!

[Anonymous]

One thing I must say that's frustrating about this is that I studied 3 months for REG for a total of 300 hours. I literally used the whole summer to study. No beach, no parties, no nothing. I devoted the whole summer just to study for this. And the score I got looks like I didn't open a book. You would think that if you want to pass a test, all you gotta do is study. Yeah right!!!

[Peanut]

What the heck I fixed it this morning?? I just went back hopefully it's working.

CPAMan, the best advice someone gave me, after I received a 60 my second time taking REG was “study REG like you've never studied before.” That's exactly what I did. I do this full time so you might have to adjust how you do this, I took 5 weeks. I did two lectures a day (Becker) I didn't just watch the lectures I took really really intense notes, about 4 pages front and back per chapter. (Before that I NEVER got anything out of those boring lectures) After I rewatched all of the lectures and took my notes, I would read my notes for the first chapter, then work all the MCQs in Becker. I did that for each chapter. Then once I had “mastered” the Becker program, I moved on to Wiley. Did all of the Wiley MCQs then did lots of quizzes. I also read the Becker ancillary 3x. I know you don't have Becker but you can get a hold of the ancillary video on youtube.com.. You'll get it this next time CPAMan!!!

AUD 81 (X4) Previous scores 59, 72, 72
REG 80 (X3) Previous scores 59, 60
FAR 75 (X2) Previous score 67
BEC 79 (X2) Previous score 58

[Peanut]

CPAMan–The first time I studied REG I studied 2 months, the second time 6 weeks, the third time 5 weeks. REG ruins EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AUD 81 (X4) Previous scores 59, 72, 72
REG 80 (X3) Previous scores 59, 60
FAR 75 (X2) Previous score 67
BEC 79 (X2) Previous score 58

[Anonymous]

I noticed when I failed FAR and AUD the previous times, I didn't use the Gleim software. I then use it and get an 89 and 87 respectively. For REG, I didn't use Gleim and I fail. Looks like that software has helped me a lot more than I thought.

The reason why I didn't use Gleim was because Phil Yaeger told us not to. He said to only do those assigned questions in the Wiley book. He even warned us that if we decide to go off on our own and do additional questions, we will not pass. Looks like he was wrong after all.

[Anonymous]

@CPAMan

Like peanut I too scaled back on the amount of time I studied for REG the second time around. The first time I studied for 6 weeks and went through everything in the Becker book. The second time I took 4 weeks and focused in on Becker chapters 3 and 4 heavily (corps, pships, basis etc.) – I spent 2-1/2 to 3 weeks on these two chapters only. The remaining time I went through the rest of the topics really well once. I took notes during the entire time – lecture notes and notes on why I was getting certain problems wrong during MC- this seemed to burn it into my brain.

For the SIMS, I just looked at the answers a couple days prior to the exam – not that it helped, I didn't get one or one topic on any of them… The SIMS were a mess.

[Anonymous]

My Performance Report….

Ethics & Legal Responsibilities (15-19%)- Weaker

Business Law (17-21%)- Weaker

Federal Tax Process (11-15%) – Stronger

Taxation on Property Transactions(12-16%)- Comparable

Taxation on Individuals (13-19%)- Weaker

Taxation on Entities (18-24%)- Weaker

Multiple Choice- Weaker

Simulations- Weaker

I'm quite shocked about that Weaker performance on the Sims. Compared to my Sims on AUD, I didn't think they were that bad. I still stand by my comment before that Multiple Choice is worth a huge chunk of your grade. By doing excellent on the multiple choice and doing poorly on the Sims, you can still end up with a great score. And for me to be weaker on the Sims, I have a slight hunch that people are exaggerating when they say, “Oh, those Sims were brutal.” Other candidates must've really kicked butt on their Sims for me to have done weaker.

[Anonymous]

@CPAMan,

I came here to see how you did since we both had the same reaction to the sims. It looks like they got the better of both of us…

I stopped studying for about a week after convincing myself that I really didn't NEED to be a CPA. But now I am feeling guilty that I even considered quitting.

I guess I will stop studying FAR and go back to REG since it's somewhat fresh in my mind.

[Anonymous]

@CPAMan,

I just noticed your comment about Yaeger. I can't help but feel that I screwed myself over with the review course, especially after realizing that I got higher scores with Becker. That actually surprises me since I do believe that Yaeger's technique of getting candidates to understand concepts is better.

Maybe I should consider going back to Becker. Has this happened to anyone else?

[Author]

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